vestigenet | video; un: slutty.sin.boy

[ it's a video post from our resident bard, because figuring out how to turn on a camera is slightly easier than navigating a full text message for one, but more importantly because if jaskier is given an opportunity to perform for an audience, he's going to take it.

unfortunately, while he has managed to figure out he video chat function with a small bit of coaching, he clearly has yet to actually master it, if the way his beaming face is only half framed in the feed is any indication. unless he's just going for something artful, anyway, which isn't completely out of the question but slightly more unlikely when it involves depriving the other residents of his beautiful face. ]

I'm lead to understand that this delightful little device is meant to communicate with others across long distances and doesn't even require that the user be adept in the art of magic and I. Am. Excited.

Hello darlings, I am the renowned bard Jaskier and I am aroused to such heights of creativity by this fascinating little place and all the beautiful people in it. If any of your are interested in having any of your past feats of glory epitomized in epic verse, I would love to hear all about it!

[ and here, a wink to help entice anyone that might be slightly on the fence at the moment. ] Call me!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Frankly, Geralt has no clue how Jaskier even has the energy. It's hardly been any time at all and he's already sick of it, while Jaskier decides that it's the perfect time to make friends and write new songs. Maybe there's not really much else for him to do either, but.

Still.

Geralt's a lot more interested in the cans of food that he's found, and is investigating them closely while Jaskier talks to the strange box. ]

Are you going to twist their stories too?

[ Dryly. ]

[ for jaskier, at this point in his life, monotony and repetition are equivalent to death. sure, the circumstances around this new situation could have been a bit better, but thus far the worst thing to happen were a couple of monsters and that was just as good as being home, really.

meeting new people is fun, whatever opinion geralt might have on the matter.

jaskier makes an effort to make sure that the camera is no longer recording him before he turns to pull a long suffering look at geralt, the sort you can only share with someone you've known long enough to be exasperated yet inured to this sort of nonsense. ]

Oh there's hardly any point in that, is there? All of us are far from home right now, there's nobody to impress or protect except each other. And in such a small sample size, artful exaggeration is hardly likely to hold up against scrutiny, is it?

[ he sets the phone gently down on a tabletop and strides over to poke geralt once in the chest with a finger before wagging it scoldingly in front of his face. ]

Maybe if you gave me a bit more to work with in your recountings I wouldn't be forced to resort to a bit of extra flavor.

[ Scoff. ]

Didn't stop you from lying about the elves.

[ You were there! And, no, he will never shut up about it. Don't you pin this on him. ]

[ not this old song and dance again. ]

Honestly, Geralt. [ a soft, resigned sort of sigh, as if to say that he is being patient with geralt but even his patience must one day run out.

(it's a sigh jaskier has heard directed his way many a time, from quite a young age). ]

In all the years that you've known me, do I truly strike you as such a simple creature as to only have one motivation at any given time for the things that I do?

Let me put it this way. If the elves had done as you bid them and killed you only to set me free, the song I would have written after would be the most honest that you had ever heard - so honest, in fact, that every elf loathing person in all of the kingdoms would have known precisely where to find Filavandrel and his coterie. And I would not stop in singing that song until every single one of them was dead.

[ as he speaks, his tone of voice manages to seamlessly shift from airy whimsy to cold hard truth, that thing geralt is so very fond of. he doesn't even sound especially angry, just. oh so very honest.

and then he blinks, and decides to turn that blink into a fluttering of his lashes as a fresh smile blooms on his face. ]

But they didn't, and thus I felt no real desire to paint any more of a target on their backs than there already was.

[ You know--

He hates that that makes sense, a little. And, at first, he only gives his customary 'hm' of recognition and acceptance, maybe even approval. Then there's a pause, a moment or two, before he adds blankly: ]

If they'd killed me.

[ The shit.

Firstly, they'd only just met. Secondly, he wouldn't want that. Thirdly, they'd just met. Fourth...ly? He's not worth that. That's absurd. ]

[ honestly geralt how can you still be surprised by this revelation after all these years. jaskier loves hard and he loves quick and yes, he'd been young back then, starry eyed in the worst possible way and more than a little foolish.

but geralt has long ago earned his... admittedly at first shallow interest in the tall dark handsome man brooding alone in a corner, and his everlasting friendship aside. ]

Yes, Geralt, if they killed you. [ jaskier confirms patiently, having some idea of the direction of geralt's thoughts right now. ] I'm sure you don't want to hear it, but you are a good person and I care about it. Yes, even back then.

[ and he takes a moment here now to make sure he meets geralt's eyes so the man knows how serious he's being about this, before he smiles whimsically and sufficiently breaks the atmosphere with: ] And besides, the world would have been a much uglier place without you in it, in every sense of the word.

[ There's a hint of discomfort on Geralt's face when Jaskier looks at him, and subtle as it is, Jaskier has undoubtedly learnt to read that by now. 'Good' is really pushing it, isn't it? He tries to do good things, but he's pretty bad at doing good things. It often doesn't seem to matter how much he tries, because in the end he has to do something he didn't want to do anyway.

At least Jaskier is kind enough to give him an out from the conversation. He rolls his eyes, then walks over to sit down next to the bard. ]

Fine. I'll forgive that lie.

[ while there was certainly something of an art to learning how to read geralt in his more complex moments, it had taken jaskier very little exposure to the other man to figure out how much trouble he had with granting himself any sort of grace when it came to the quality of his soul.

if jaskier doesn't talk him up, who will, honestly? jaskier opens his space up to geralt as he sits down next to him, instantly receptive to his proximity, and offers the witcher an eye roll of his own. ]

That's very generous of you, thank you kind sir.

[ Dryly: ]

That's me. A beacon of generosity.

[ Then, he slumps a little, staring blankly ahead at the wall. What the hell do they do now? He has no interest in playing anyone's games, especially not those who are so cowardly they won't even show themselves. There has to be a way out of here. ]

video; un: slutty.sin.boy

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